Hat



J y 1929- J. J. DESMOND HAT Filed Jan. 25, 1928 IN V EN TOR. gig/V55 I]. 5 5mm: fi

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Patented July 16, 1929.

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Zl'AllLllE-S J. DESMOND, OF SOUTH. NOBWALK, CONNECTICUT.

HAT.

Application filed January 25, 1928. Serial No. 249,344.

The present invention relates to improve ments in hats, especially stiff straw hats of the type having a flexible head conforming port-ion between the crown and the brim, whereby the hat will readily conform to and comfortably fit the head of the wearer without the necessity for the retailer conforming the same.

It is proposed in the present embodiment to provide the flexible area either of the same straw braid as the rest of the hat, and rendered flexible either by omitting or. reducing the stiffening solution, or or a straw braid of greater inherent flexibility. Hats of this character have been produced heretoi'ore, but have had the objection that the flexible portion would gape open along the exposed or finished edges of the braid, so that the same were unsightly and the edges would become chipped and broken. Various attempts have been made to remedy this condition, as for instance in the hat disclosed in the patent to Knapp, #1,2l9,1l1 of March 13, 1917, in which the lapping oi? the braid in the brim is reversed so that the saw teeth point inwardly. This did not prevent gaping but merely concealed the gaping by facing it away from the observer. In my Patent #1,626,272 of April 26, 1927, I prevent the gaping by machine stitching the braid in the flexible portion by stitching which overlies the exposed edges to retain the edges against gaping and at the same time secure the braid windings together. In the present invention I propose to machine stitch the entire brim in the usual manner by an invisible machine stitch extending through the body of the braid and to additionally hand stitch the pointed exposed edges of the flexible portion by a concealed stitch adapted to retain the points of the overlying braid windings to the body of the under windings. In this manner =1 produce a hat which is flexible at the head conforming portion, will not gape open, and in which the flexible portion will be free of any visible stitching, and in appearance will be uniform and continuous with the stiffened portion.

lVith the above and other objects in view an embodiment of my invention is shown in the accompanyin drawings, and this embodiment will be hereinafter more fully described with reference thereto, and the this stitching in the usual-manner.

invention will be finally pointed out in the claim.

In the drawings v Fig. 1 is a perspective view of a straw hat, according to the present embodiment of the invention, a portion of the band being broken away.

Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic sectional view of a portion of the crown and the brim.

Fig. 3 is an enlarged elevation of a portion of the flexible area, and an adjacent portion of the stiffened area.

Fig. 4 is a similar view of a slightly fied form.

Figs. 5 and 6 are sectional views taken along the lines 55 and 6-43 of Figs. 3 and at respectively.

Referring to mo dithe drawings, the straw hat, according to the present embodiment of the invention, comprises a crown 10, and a doublethickness brnn consisting of an upper layer ll termed continuously with the crown and a lower layer 12, separately formed and secured at the rim to the upper layer in the usual manner. The machine stitching .13 throughout is of the usual invisible single thread'type the straw braid being continuously.overlapped and secured This stitching is shown in my U. S. Patent #1526272 and consists ot connecting triple strands at the under surface and spaced double stranded tacking loop portions stitched through the under portion of one winding of the braid and through the overlapped portion of the superimposed winding, these loop portions being practically concealed in the straw structure. It will be understood of course that the machine stitching is not limited tothis particular pe. The flexible area extends from a point in the crown a short distance above the brim and outwardly in the brim for a distance calculated to take care of the usual variations in head contours, apmoximately an inch. For this purpose the braid employed in this portion is of such a nature as to be relatively unstittened in the finished hat, the remainder of the hat being stiffened in the usual manner by sizing, pressing, etc. It is preferred in the present embodiment to employ a straw braid for this purpose hav-= ing the same style, structure and appearance as the rest of the hat. This may be done in various ways, as for instance by treating the straw with glycerine to render it impervious to the usual stifiening solutions, or where straws are employed which because of their natural oils are relatively impervious to the stiffening solution, the straw for the remainder of the hat may be treated so that it will take the stiffening.

At the completion of the machine stitching, and before securing the separate under brim layer 12 to the upper brim layer 11, the exposed finished saw tooth edges of the braid in the flexible portion are additionally stitched down by a stitching concealed at the exposed side, so that in flexing the head conforming portion these edges will not gape, but will be held down in apparently the same manner as the finished edges in the stifiened portions held down by the siz ing and pressing. For this purpose I preferably employ a single thread hand stitching as shown at 14 (Figs. 2 and 3), the needle being passed diagonally between the upper and lower surface of the braid out at one saw tooth point, then looped downwardly through the under winding to secure it and carried to a point. of the upper winding beneath the upper surface, where it is again passed diagonally between the upper and lower surface to the second saw tooth point, the stitching being continued in this manner throughout the flexible area. This stitching securely holds all the points in the flexible area, and is invisible at the exposed side, so that in the finished hat a uniform and neat appearance is presented, and gaping and chipping of the edges prevented. The under brim layer is next secured to the upper layer and the hat finished by sizing and pressing in the usual manner.

In the embodiment shown-in Fig. 4 a

slightly modified single thread hand stitch 15 is employed, the thread being passed upwardly through the under braid winding and looped through the point, and then carried beneath said lower winding to the next point. I

The machine stitching passing through the body of the braid windings secures them in uniformly overlapping relation, while the hand stitching secures the points which Vary slightly in their spacing so that gaping and chipping is prevented, and the whole presents a uniformly smooth surface in which all of the stitching is invisible at the exposed side.

I have illustrated and described preferred and satisfactory embodiments of my invention, but it will be obvious that changes may be made therein within the spirit, and scope thereof, as defined in the appended claim.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters Patent is In a hat, of straw or the like, a crown, a brim, and a flexible section extending into the crown and brim and composed of a circumferential]y-wound overlapped braid, having a pointed outer finished edge, a stitching for securing the circumferential windings of braid to one another intermediate their edges, and additional stitching securing the points of said outer finished edge of the windings to the adjacent underlying windings, whereby to avoid gaping between the superimposed windings at the exposed finished edges, said additional stitching being concealed at the exposed side.

Signed at Bridgeport, in the county of F airfield, and State of Connecticut, this 22nd day of December, 1927.

JAMES J. DIEsMoND. 

